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Facebookers Approve New Policy, but Still Hate Redesign

By Jenna Wortham April 24, 2009 2:01 pmApril 24, 2009 2:01 pm

After a weeklong public vote, Facebook members approved the company’s proposed changes to its terms of service.

The vote was prompted by an outrage that erupted in February over changes the company made to its privacy policy. The move set off an uproar because the new terms appeared to grant Facebook ownership over any content, such as images or video, uploaded to the site — even if the original owners deleted their profiles.

After thousands of Facebook members joined groups devoted to protesting the changes and bloggers heaped scorn and criticism on the company, Facebook retracted the changed terms, drafted a new set and invited its 200 million members to weigh in.

Originally, the company stipulated that it would require the participation of 30 percent of its community for the vote to be binding. That would have amounted to 60 million Facebookers casting their digital ballot. Although the actual turnout was considerably lower — less than 1 percent participated in the survey — the company said it would accept the results. Close to 75 percent of the participants who voted were in favor of the new terms of service.

“We’re pleased that users supported the proposed documents and validated our efforts to respond to their concerns,” Ted Ullyot, the company’s general counsel wrote in a blog post on the site. “You can expect to see the new documents on the site in the coming weeks.”

Mr. Ullyot acknowledged the low turnout in the post, writing, “In the meantime, we’re going to consider lowering the 30 percent threshold that the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities establishes for a user vote to be binding.”

“They announced the vote at the top of everyone’s profile for a bit, but it wasn’t exactly eye-catching,” he said. “However, last time I checked, 600,000 people was a lot of people.”

In addition, he lauded the company’s efforts to solicit the input of its constituency and remain active through the process. “Though a small percentage of the overall user base participated, they still had a voice in the process,” he said.

No word yet on whether or not the company is planning to cave in on its newly unveiled layout. A third-party application polling members on whether they liked the new redesign, which places heavy emphasis on status updates. More than 1.2 million users have given the site’s new look a thumbs down.

The reason they had such a low turnout with the vote is so many people aren’t using it as often. The site has turned into twitter from hell and isn’t the site you used to keep in contact with your friends anymore.

Am I the only one who is skeptical about the outcome of this vote? I think this so called vote total should be verified by an independent body, rather than the administrative staff of facebook who pushed for a certain outcome.

Seriously, I am very suspicious. However, one thing is right, the vote turn out will be lower because fewer are using FB as a result of the poorly designed layout changes. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for people who use Facebook, but I’m willing to bet it’s going to dramatically impact their ad revenue over coming months. Mark my words.

Uhhh, isn’t Facebook free? It’s a great tool to get back in touch, maintain contact, and explore new relationships, and it’s FREE for users. If you don’t like it, don’t use it. It’s that simple. Or not that complicated, for all the glass is half empty folks out there.

Due to the atrocious new design their “get out and vote” message got lost in the shuffle. Considering that is one of the same things that many people said in their NO votes that they hated about the redesign – imagine that.

Free or not, Zuckerberg made fame and fortune off the backs of people like you and me. In return, all those people who helped put Z on the pedestal he is currently perched on are pleading for the return of something they already had.

What Michelle (and anyone else uses the “get over it; if you don’t like it, don’t use it” argument) cannot seem to grasp is that without its users Facebook is nothing. And, at this pace, Facebook will begin treading into irrelevancy by the end of the year. What was once an unparalleled tool of communication, has quickly been stripped down to just another trivial time waster.